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CNN Hosts Melt Down Over Latest Trump Cabinet Picks

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OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.


CNN conservative contributor Scott Jennings seemed pleased by President-elect Donald Trump’s latest Cabinet-level nominees during a panel discussion about them on Thursday.

In particular, Jennings expressed surprise that Trump nominated now-former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) to be his attorney general.

“Are you not entertained?” Jennings asked when questioned by CNN “News Central” co-host Boris Sanchez about the pick.

“I mean, this is the most entertaining transition I’ve ever seen,” Jennings continued. “I was as surprised as Paula, because it’s not a name that we had seen.”

“We’d seen some reporting, a lot of different names, frankly, a lot of really sort of well-heeled Washington legal types that were on the list. So I’m I’m as surprised as anyone. But what I take away from this is that this is a president-elect who is feeling his power,” the commentator contended.

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Jennings held a public affairs role in President George W. Bush’s White House and contributed to both his 2000 and 2004 campaigns. He has decades of experience in journalism.

“I mean, this is someone who is appointing people to things, whether it’s Gaetz or anything else we’ve seen today, who is feeling his power, feeling his influence, doesn’t feel like he’s in a mood to negotiate with the people in Washington, D.C.,” Jennings said.

The conservative commentator highlighted Trump’s choice of Fox News host and U.S. Army veteran Pete Hegseth as an example of him rejecting conventional Washington wisdom.

“He’s here to do what he wants to do. And he’s going to expect the Republicans to fall in line. Now all these people, whether it’s Gaetz or Hegseth or anyone else, have to go to confirmation and go through these committee hearings and prove themselves like anyone else,” Jennings said.

“But it is apparent to me that Trump is in a decisive mood and is not someone who’s interested in picking things that he would consider to be watered down. So that’s my that’s my initial reaction to this. I mean, we truly learned about it two seconds before we came on here. So pretty wild day,” the CNN personality concluded.

Trump’s selection of former Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard as the next Director of National Intelligence, announced on Wednesday, is another decision that has taken Washington by surprise.

“News Central” co-host Brianna Keilar asked Jennings which of the president-elect’s unconventional picks he thought would face the toughest confirmation battle in the Senate.

Jennings noted that even the most controversial pick, arguably Matt Gaetz, has qualifications for the position. Gaetz is a practicing attorney and currently serves on the House Judiciary Committee, which oversees the Department of Justice.

“He, like everyone else, has to go up there and prove themselves. But you can’t underestimate Donald Trump’s influence over the Republicans in the Senate on this. And he’s going to be insistent that he get his government and his administration,” Jennings said.

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He then noted, “Some of these picks are conventional– Marco Rubio [for secretary of state], for instance, a well-known name. But some of them are designed to shake up Washington, and I am assuming that is what Donald Trump believes he is doing with some of these folks.”

Other conventional choices so far include his chief of staff Susie Wiles, Rep. Elise Stefanik for U.N. ambassador, former Rep. John Ratcliffe as CIA director, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee as ambassador to Israel, former Rep. Lee Zeldin as Environmental Protection Agency administrator, and Florida Rep. Mike Waltz as national security advisor.

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